By Eric Stock
NORMAL – The Illinois State basketball teams hope to light up the scoreboard this season, but the Redbirds will be playing part of the season without their main scoreboard.
It’s coming down in December to make way for a new scoreboard system worth $950,000. Athletics Director Larry Lyons told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin, the athletic department wanted to get the renovations done before the season.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Lyons on WJBC.
“Without throwing everyone under the bus, procurement in the state of Illinois is tedious,” Lyons said. “We have found it’s hard to plan far enough ahead to get everything through the system.”
“We may play a couple games just using the (auxiliary boards),” Lyons noted.
Lyons said the scoreboard will come down after the Dec. 5 men’s home game against Alabama-Birmingham. He said it will take a few weeks to replace but the new auxiliary scoreboards will be functional.
“It’s a two- or three-week process,” Lyons said. “The last time it was a retrofit, we used the existing frame. We put the new parts on, put it back up and it was up in a week. This one because its dismantle and rebuild, it’s going to take a little longer. Plus, plus you have to have the floor out of the way”
The new scoreboard will be bigger with a better picture. The new system is being funded by corporate sponsorships. The current video board was retrofitted in 2007.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
